Familial aggregation of hyperopia in an elderly population of siblings in Salisbury, Maryland.

PURPOSE: To determine whether hyperopia aggregates in families in an older mixed-race population. DESIGN: Cross-sectional familial aggregation study using sibships. METHODS: We recruited 759 subjects (mean age, 73.4 years) in 241 families through the population-based Salisbury Eye Evaluation study. Subjects underwent noncycloplegic refraction if best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was <or=20/40, had lensometry to measure their currently worn spectacles if BCVA was >20/40 with spectacles, or were considered to be plano (refraction of zero) if the BCVA was >20/40 without spectacles. Preoperative refraction from medical records was used for bilaterally pseudophakic subjects. RESULTS: Utilizing hyperopia cutoffs from 1.00 to 2.50 diopters, age-, race-, and gender-adjusted odds ratios for hyperopia with an affected sibling ranged from 2.72 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.84-4.01) to 4.87 (95% CI, 2.54-9.30). The odds of hyperopia increased with age until 75 years, after which they remained relatively constant. Black men were significantly less likely to be hyperopic than white men, white women, or black women. CONCLUSIONS: Hyperopia appears to be under strong genetic control in this older population.